Resolutions

Dude. Whatever happened to Devon Odessa, anyway?

Fade up on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on TV. The counter the bottom right-hand corner of the screen says "11:59:07," and as it counts towards midnight, the camera pulls back to show Angela "Mod Squad" Chase leaning on her hand pensively, lit only by the blue flicker of the TV. AVO mentions that, "as, like, a New Year's resolution," she's thinking she should stop getting "so caught up in [her] own thoughts," because she's, like, "way too introspective." Heh.

In another blue-lit living room, Sharon "Shoot The Moon" Cherski clutches an afghan to her chest. Bare-shouldered and tousle-haired, she VOs grimly that she resolves never to have sex again, with Kyle or with anyone else, unless it's someone she loves and respects. Pan over to bare-shouldered Kyle, who watches TV slack-jawed. Kyle VO: "Spend more time with the dog. And Sharon." Kyle scootches over to Sharon and rests his head on her shoulder; Sharon looks uncomfortable.

Mr. "" Katimski VOs, "Give up coffee. There, that's an easy one." He chuckles to himself.

Through the fish tank, we see Brian "My Girl 2" Krakow slumped on his bed. He resolves to stop obsessing about Angela.

Danielle "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves" Chase, wearing a paper New Year's hat, resolves to "badger" her mother into letting her wear make-up; she passes a bowl of popcorn to Rickie "Supernova" Vasquez, who resolves while looking around the Chase living room to "find someplace where I, like, really belong." The popcorn goes to Angela , and AVO says that she'd "better rethink this becoming-less-introspective thing," because it might make her a shallow person; Angela grabs a handful of popcorn and passes the bowl to Rayanne "On Edge" Graff, who vows to "stop drinking. But this time, like, really stop."

Upstairs, Patty "That Darn Cat" Chase twirls a champagne flute absently in her fingers, deciding to "be less judgmental, less criticalto lighten up and, above all, to be more supportive and less suspicious, no matter how much it sometimes seemslike he's hiding something," and she turns to fix Graham "When Husbands Cheat" Chase with a judgmental, critical, suspicious look. Graham, meanwhile, glowers at his champagne while resolving firmly to tell Hallie Lowenthal "once and for all" that he's not going into the restaurant business with her, "and to stop all those long talks with her after class." After that last part, he smiles faintly.

Quick cut to Jordan "The Panic Room" Catalano, staring blankly into space at the wheel of his car. JVO: "Wait a minute. Isn't tonightNew Year's Eve?"

Back to the couch. The ball is dropping, and as Rayanne snarfs popcorn, AVO says she'll scrap the less-introspective plan, but she does resolve "to stop doing Jordan Catalano's homework." The ten-second countdown starts, and we pan across all the principal characters once more before the ball lands and Danielle wails, "Happy New Year!" She runs out of the living room (yay), and Rayanne and Rickie kiss Angela, and she kisses them back, and they all stare wistfully at the tons of confetti falling over Times Square.

A rather abrupt fade to the Chase kitchen, where Graham is complimenting Rickie on the pancakes. "Oh, thanks, I just did what it said on the package," Rickie says, tidying up the counter. Danielle whines about her green sweater; Rickie says it's in the living room, to a stack of magazines. Graham, surprised: "There's a stack of magazines?" Rickie: "There is now." I need a Rickie, that's obvious. Graham then tells Patty that he'll come straight home after class, a la his resolution; Patty, a la her resolution, tells him to take all the time he needs: "It's whatever makes you happy." "It is?" Angela comes in just then and mutters at Rickie, "You're doing dishes again?" and Patty comes over and kisses them both and wishes them a happy first day back at school. "Ha ha," Angela gripes, but Rickie wishes Patty a happy first day back at work, and then wishes Graham luck on "hollandaise," which apparently he has to teach that night. The kids leave; Patty comes back in to retrieve a glove, and Graham expresses the wish that Rickie had come into their lives years before, "when the girls were still young and impressionable." Patty agrees that Rickie rules -- and who wouldn't? -- and talks about how he cleans the closet and does dishes right after using them: "He's like my mother, only -- mature." "We should adopt," Graham says, looking over his shoulder to make sure the kids aren't in earshot anymore. "If only it were that easy," Patty sighs, putting on her gloves. Then she wonders in a low voice what's going on, saying that he's "such a great kid" and why haven't they heard from his aunt and uncle?

At the front door, Rickie calls to Angela that he "forgot [his] Odyssey." He heads back into the house to grab the book, and we see him overhearing Patty as she says that, whenever she tries to bring up the family situation, Rickie "just changes the subject," and then she asks if they don't care and whether they "even know where he is," and Graham mutters something, and Rickie looks afraid and sighs heavily as Patty goes on that they have to try to contact Rickie's family, "or he has to -- I mean, he can't just stay here forever."

Cut to an uncaffeinated Mr. Katimski slamming a paperback copy of The Odyssey down on his desk and asking if anyone started the book. The class avoids his eyes. "Did anyone -- read the book jacket?" Again, no joy. Rickie chews his finger. Mr. K, gruttering that he hasn't had a cup of coffee "in almost twelve hours," writes fumblingly on the board as he says, "What does Odysseus[smacks the blackboard as he drops the chalk]want?" Rickie chews his finger some more. "Enrique? Any thoughts?" "To, um" Mr. K, impatiently: "To what?" The bell rings. As the class makes its escape, Mr. K barks that he wants everyone to write two pages, due the day, on what Odysseus wants. "Ehh ha," Mr. Ksays (?), watching the students flee, and flaps a notebook in annoyance.

Chase living room. Danielle tries to negotiate make-up-wearing, without much success. Enter Graham with his cooking apparati; Patty comments a little too mildly, "I guess you stayed late after all." Graham apologizes; Patty fakes that it's okay. Graham too-casually says he got hung up talking to Hallie; Patty fakes an interest in how Hallie's doing. Graham mentions that he told Hallie he's not doing "the restaurant thing," and Patty exhales all relieved, "Oh, good," but when Graham shoots her a quizzical look, she has to cover it, and then there's a "that's what you wanted" "I thought that's what you wanted" "well only if you wanted to" exchange that gets interrupted, mercifully, by Rickie's appearance on the stairs. Where is he going? Home. "Whaaaat? When?" Patty asks, and she and Graham get up and walk over to Rickie, who says he's leaving now, and Tino will pick him up, and how did hollandaise go? Graham, brow furrowed, says it went fine, but "Rickie" and Patty interrupts to ask if this is what Rickie really wants. Rickie lies that he talked to his aunt and uncle, "I mean really talked to them," and got everything straightened out, and he thinks things will work out, and he wants to thank the Chases, but his aunt and uncle "are, like, [his] family, so," and he backs towards the door. The Chases follow him, concerned, and Patty says she wants to talk to Rickie's aunt. Rickie keeps backing away, saying he knows, and his aunt "has been meaning to call, or whatever," but he thinks she's ashamed. He steps forward to give Patty a hug and to thank her, "for everything," and as Patty hugs him back tightly, he closes his eyes and rests for a second before pulling away to shake Graham's hand and slip out the door. "Bye," Graham whispers. He and Patty look at each other sadly.

Outside, Rickie puts his scarf on and hugs himself for a moment, looking lost, before heading into the night.

We fade back in on a bell ringing and Mr. K shouting that he wants "those Odysseus essays" before the students leave. The kids file past, handing in their work, and we pan back to see Rickie sleeping on his desk. Mr. K sits down beside him as Rickie starts to come to and asks dryly, "You give up caffeine too?" Horrified, Rickie pulls his coat on and stammers out an excuse about staying at Angela's house. "Where is your essay?" Mr. K asks softly. More excuses about Angela's sister having to go to the emergency room, so Rickie had to go too, so he didn't have a chance to do the assignment. Enter a worried Angela to talk to Rickie; Mr. K asks how her sister's feeling, and when Angela makes a whatever face and says, "Fine," Rickie tweaks and says he has to get to Soc, and he bolts. Angela runs after him. Mr. K looks thoughtful.

In the hallway, Angela catches up to Rickie, telling him that "Rayanne's all concerned -- you have to tell her everything's okay. [pause] I mean, everything is okay? Right?" Rickie says "of course" a couple of times; it's clear he's lying, but Angela doesn't notice, going on to say that he has to tell Rayanne that, because Rayanne thinks Patty gave Rickie the boot, and she's driving Angela nuts about it. Rickie says okay, and that he has to go, and bolts again. Angela watches him go. Mr. K comes up behind her and asks if Rickie stayed with her last night. No, she says. Mr. K says he must have gotten confused, but Angela interrupts to tell him that Rickie was staying with her, but "now he's back with his family. I mean, everything's calmed down over there now, I guess. I mean, I hope so, 'cause --" "Oh well good," Mr. K interrupts, looking terribly sad. "I uh, I hope so too, uh." Angela interrupts back to ask him, "Say there's, like, someonewho's really smart in a lot of ways, but isn't doing real well in school, like especially in English." "Oh, say no more," Mr. K says, and leads her over to the peer tutoring sign-up sheet. He hands her a pen, and we zoom in to see her scrawling Jordan's name on the list.

The gym. Rayanne successfully dismounts from the rope and swaggers over to Sharon: "Come on, Cherski, work those abs!" Sharon grouses at her. Rayanne flops down to hold Sharon's feet, telling her that it's "easier," and says that she keeps "reliving that momentwith you and Kyle." "Oh, shut up," Sharon grumbles. Rayanne goes on about how Kyle "declared his love for" Sharon, and then smugs that "this is, like, it for you now, you know, 'cause you're totally fulfilled, right?" Sharon sits up and glares at Rayanne. "Right?" Wipe to Rayanne doing sit-ups while Sharon unburdens herself; fascinated, she doesn't take her eyes off of Sharon while Sharon confesses that she and Kyle broke up, "like, officially," but then on New Year's Eve, she watched A River Runs Through It, and then Kyle calledhee hee! Sharon cringes again and wonders aloud what's wrong with her. Rayanne advises her to lighten up, saying that the guy Sharon and Kyle interrupted her with, Bobby -- "that guy's name is Phil," Sharon whatevers. "Whatever," Rayanne whatevers back, and points out that she and Bobby -- "Phil." Rayanne whatevers again and says that she and Phil "don't have to be in love to have a good time." Sharon counterpoints, "Yeahbut let's say he loved you, while you were just, like, using him[look of shock and delight from Rayanne]for, you knowbecause you werewatching thismovie?" Rayanne, titillated: "What movie?" "ThisBradPitt movie?" Rayanne nods, "Say no more," and goes back to her sit-ups. Snerk. "And then, say you call Phil over, or Bill" "Say I call both of 'em," Rayanne cracks. Sharon blows that off and asks, "Let's say, though, that you had a better time than you used to when you were, technically, supposed to, like, love him? Like, a muchbettertime." Rayanne studies her, then snaps out of it to ask if she means "the really dull movie with all the fishing?" Sharon rolls her eyes and says she's going to tell Kyle the truth, and she's never having sex again until she's absolutely sure it's the right person and she's in "complete and total love." Rayanne, losing interest, shrugs, "I just hope Brad Pitt's available," claps Sharon on the shoulder, and bounces off. Sharon slumps.